Padang, Singapore | |
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Type | Open playing field |
Location | Connaught Drive, Singapore 179861 |
Coordinates | 1°17′26″N103°51′11″E / 1.29056°N 103.85306°E |
Governing body | National Heritage Board |
Designated | 9 August 2022 |
Reference no. | 75 |
The Padang (Malay for 'field') is an open playing field located within the Downtown Core of the Central Area in Singapore. It includes the Padang Cricket Ground. The Padang is surrounded by several important landmarks, which include Saint Andrew's Cathedral, City Hall, the Old Supreme Court Building and the City Hall MRT station.
Due to its prime location and historical significance, it has been used as a venue for a variety of events. It was the first host of the Singapore National Day parade (NDP), and has hosted it on a regular cycle (every three years from 1984 to 1994, every five years since) and during years that mark national milestones (such as the bicentennial of modern Singapore in 2019). From 2023 through 2025, it will host the parade due to the reconstruction of its designated main venue The Float @ Marina Bay as NS Square. [1] [2] [3]
On 4 November 2018, the Padang hosted the live finals of the Mandopop reality music competition SPOP Sing! . [4]
On 3 August 2019, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced that the Padang will be gazetted as a National Monument along with the Anderson Bridge, Cavenagh Bridge and the Elgin Bridge (collectively known as the Singapore River Bridges), [5] [6] due to the historical significance - these include the World War II surrender in 1945, National Day Parade and the signing of the country's formation in the British colony and self-independence. The Preservation of Monuments (Amendment) Act will allow open spaces or the whole of the area to be gazetted as national monuments, such as Fort Siloso and Padang. [7] [8]
On 8 August 2022, it was announced that the Padang would be gazetted as the nation's 75th national monument on 9 August, the 57th anniversary of the Republic's independence. [9] [10]
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Padang ground is historically associated with the Indian independence movement, specifically Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Armywhose parades use to be held at Padang and a memorial built by Subhas Chandra Bose for the fallen INA soldiers fighting against the British Colonial rule in India was later dmeolished by the Colonial British after the defeat of INA [11] to prevent the spread of the nationalist ideals of the INA in the political atmosphere of the Cold War and the decolonization of Asia. [12] [13] [14] INA memorial was later rebuilt at the same spot by the National Heritage Board of Singapore with financial donations from the Indian community in Singapore, a new monument commemorating the previous one was erected on that spot. [14] .